Few Americans realize that Senate confirmation of President Obama’s nominee for surgeon general has been blocked for nearly a year by, of all interest groups, the National Rifle Association.
Now that the lack of a surgeon general is a major concern due to the Ebola scare, some Senate Republicans who follow the NRA’s dictates are pretending like they had nothing to do with the hold-up.

On Meet the Press Sunday, the inaptly-named Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri went so far as to claim that Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are to blame for the nation not having a surgeon general to coordinate the Ebola precautions. Blunt said Obama and Reid failed to push through the confirmation of Vivek Murthy.
But, as noted by the liberal group Think Progress, the Missouri Republican disingenuously suggested that the NRA played no role in blocking the nominee.

Earlier this year, the NRA launched a public campaign to derail Murthy’s nomination because he supports expanding background checks for gun purchases. When he said that gun violence was a public health concern, the gun lobby shrieked, even though every major medical association — and several former surgeons general under Republican presidents — shared the same view.

The NRA announced they were going to “score” the vote on Murthy’s confirmation, meaning any senator who voted for Obama’s choice would be on the gun group’s sh– list, and that was all it took for the GOP. Sen. Rand Paul placed a hold on the nomination and the surgeon general subject was put on the shelf.
“The NRA said they were going to score the vote and suddenly everybody froze him (Murthy),” said MTP moderator Chuck Todd. “That seems a little petty in hindsight, does it not?”
Blunt responded that the U.S. needs a surgeon general on the job. But when asked if he would vote for Murthy’s confirmation, the senator again refused to answer the question.
“Until this (Ebola concerns) came up, frankly I’ve heard very little discussion about the surgeon general,” he said.

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